Machine for paring



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WM. H. LAZELLE, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO YVILLSON & FENWICK.

MACHINE FOR PARING APPLES.

Specification of Letters 'Patent No. 9,558, dated January 25, 1853.

To aM whom may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM I-I. LAznLLn, of the city, county, and Stateof New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines forParing Apples and other Fruit, &c.; and I hereby do declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being hadto the anneXed drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which:

Figure l is a side elevation; Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section;Fig. 3 is a plan view; Fig. 4 is a detached view of the knife arm; Fig.5 is a cross section through the line w.

The same letters refer to like parts on all the figures.

The nature of my inventionconsists in constructing a machine, for paringapples, &c., with a semicircular stationary rack in combination with atraversing lever or handie, on which are mounted a wheel and pinion, andsupports or bearings sustaining a rotary fork having a pinion on the endof its handle meshing with the wheel on the lever. The prongs of thefork sustain the apple &c., against a stationary yet yielding or springknife, by which, when the said lever is pushed horizontally backward andforward, a rotary motion is given to the fork on which the apple, &c.,is secured thus making the apple rotate against the knife, which actsupon it to pare or remove the skin in a most beautiful and thoroughmanner.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is a stationary metal rack; it is supported on legs a a; it has tworadial arms B B, and a projecting fixed pivot or axis C; all these partsmay be cast in one piece at one operation. The axis or pivot C has itsupper part turned orotherwise made smooth for a journal to the collar ofthe traversing lever.

L is the traversing lever; part of it is made with a spindle on which isa pinion D and a wheel E; it has a handle b, and a collar Z on its innerend; this collar embraces the projecting pivot C which forms the axes ofthe traversing lever L. If the projection C were a boss, and the leverhad a pivot working in said boss, the same object as the collar d andpivot C would be obtained.

F F are two supports or brackets on the lever L. These brackets havebearings in which the fork G is supported, and in which it revolves.This fork has a pinion I-I on its outer end and it has prongs I on itsinner end.

K is a standard or vertical boss secured firmly in the horizontalbracket P. This bracket is secured on the arm, and it is capable ofbeing nearer to, or farther from the axis of the traversing lever L, bythe screw or bolt f being set in any of the holes g, g, to adapt thedistance of the knife to that of the fork, for very large and smallapples, &c.

M is the knife arm; it has a collar on its outer end which embraces thetop of the boss K; a screw s secures this arm to the boss, by passinginto K.

R is a stub bar firmly secured on the boss K; it has a spring S securedto it and to the arm M of the knife.

T, is the knife; it may be secured to the arm M, in any known way. Thespring S is for the purpose of pressing the knife close up against theapple, &c., and yet to allow the arm M with the knife to yieldsufficiently to suit the inequalities of apples, &c. The boss K may bemade to move around, or capable of moving around in a journal oritice orsocket made in the bracket P, and the knife arm in that case will befirmly fixed to the said boss, which in that will form a movable pivot;the spring S will 'then be fixed firmly to the bracket or somestationary part at one end, and the other to the knife arm; the objectof these devices and arrangement of them, is to have a stationary yetyielding knife,-that is, the knife must have no permanent motion. Theknife T may have a straight or a curved edge. I do not confine myself toany particular form, either of it, or the knife arm.

Operation: Supposing an apple to be placed on the prongs of the fork,and the handle of the lever L drawn to the end V, of the rack A, bypushing the lever forward in a horizontal direction, the prongs of thefork with the apple on it will traverse a semicircle and the knife willact longitudinally from the heel to the toes of the fork, or from thestem to the blossom end of the apple. By the pinion D being made totraverse the rack, the spindle in the lever of this pinion and the wheelE is made to revolve, which gives a rotary motion to the pinion H andthus the Jfork G is made to revolve with a rapid motion against theknife T, thereby paring the apple from stein to blossom end, and overits Whole circumference. The fork with the apple on it, therefore, hastivo motions, one in the path of a horizontal circle, and the otherdescribing vertical circles. A coring and quartering apparatus may beattached to this machine. The inode of operating the traversing leverbackward and forward in a horizontal direction, enables this machine tobe much easier operated by hand, than any rotary machine, the stationaryknife being made adjustable, yet firm and lleXible, renders it veryefficient and accommodating for apples, &c., of different sizes, and ofunequal. surfaces. The motions of the fork with the apple against theknife enables this machine to pare apples, Sac., as eiiiciently as anyniachine With a spring fork, and obviates the tear and Wear of: thegreat tension which is necessarily exerted in the old machines on thespring which is drawn ont over the semidiameter of every apple. All theparts having a pinion on it, which traverses the said rack and givesrotary motion to the foi-lr, making the apple to revolve against theswinging spring knife T While the handle is pushed backward and forwardin a y horizontal direction by the operator in the manner substantiallyas described and for the purpose set forth.

' WM. H. LAZELLE. Witnesses:

Rioni). TEN EYCK, Jr., H. F. WiLLsoN.

